At the center of the Frost Silver Prairie, what was once a boundless sea of silver grass had been replaced by a world of bone-chilling frost. Everywhere stood snow-capped peaks, glaciers, and deep blue permafrost accumulated over ten thousand years. Yet within this world of ice and snow, flecks of glazed golden-red drifted unpredictably—sometimes just a few, at other times dozens or hundreds.
Whenever two of these golden-red flecks met, the temperature spiked instantly; three or four coming together could ignite flames, melting the surrounding ice and snow.
Above this world of ice and snow, Shuangya and her companions sat cross-legged in the air. Various manifestations of a glacial realm surged continuously from their bodies to reinforce the mindscape world below and suppress the drifting flecks of glazed golden-red.
At times, the glazed golden-red would abruptly burst apart before dozens coalesced in one spot, immediately bringing forth a fiery immortal tree, followed by the illusory rising of a great sun.
Whenever this wondrous spectacle appeared, Shuangya and the others visibly strained under the effort.
The Liao girl born with four silver teeth had by now transformed them into four towering peaks. She could not help but say, "Inside, it's merely one cultivator at early Scenery Command and another at Dharma Idol perfection. Why are they so difficult to handle? Three of us at late Scenery Command have been fighting them for more than half a month, yet we still haven't brought them down. Does the human race have geniuses like this too? Didn't people say only Wei Yuan was troublesome?"
Shuangya replied, "Their mindscape worlds are exceedingly bizarre. Joined together, they yield endless transformations. But the surrounding heaven and earth have already been sealed tight by our mindscapes. As long as we steadily wear them down, they will sooner or later fail to hold on."
"What about the troops outside?"
Another Liao woman remarked, "No need to worry. We're pinned here, but so is their commanding general. With the commander absent, the forces outside are probably just waiting for orders."
Meanwhile, a thousand li away, cannon fire blazed continuously across the sky as countless flying sword shells whistled through the air, pounding the Liao cavalry so relentlessly they could not even lift their heads.
The ground was strewn with corpses and craters. The silver grass had long been replaced by blackened, scorched earth; virtually every inch of soil had been overturned by artillery.
In the center of this scorched earth, over a hundred thousand surviving Liao cavalrymen were huddled together. They had built ramparts out of the carcasses of their Liao horses, draped them with horse barding, and heaped soil over the armor, barely managing to withstand the penetration of high-powered flying sword shells. In every direction stood Qingming soldiers, their military qi coalescing into a circular wall that completely sealed off any escape.
The highest-ranking cultivators in this Qingming army were merely at the Dharma Idol realm. With their commander gone, who would have thought they could still launch an offensive? What was more, their true strengths—such as momentum like poured mercury and exquisite, seamless coordination—had not even been displayed. Relying solely on barrages of cannon fire and autocannon strafing, they had already routed the Liao cavalry into utter disarray.
After several large-scale engagements, the Liao cavalry had suffered more than fifty percent casualties, only to discover that their rear had been cut off. By the time they realized it, Qingming forces had already encircled them from all four directions.
Only then did the commanding Liao general understand: while he was fully absorbed in the front-line clash, Qingming units had long since outflanked him from behind.
With the encirclement complete, Qingming sent three successive groups of envoys to demand their surrender, but every one of them was beheaded and their severed heads thrown back.
In the Qingming camp, over a dozen Dharma Idol generals were debating, a rare divergence of opinion breaking out among them. Some argued they should alternate fighting and pausing to press for surrender. Others believed they should dispatch elites to breach the lines and crush the Liao troops' morale in one fell swoop, allowing the soldiers to amass karmic luck and merit along the way to aid future breakthroughs.
Still others, more cautious and seasoned, believed they should maintain the siege and bombard them on a fixed daily schedule; before long, the Liao forces would exhaust their arrows and rations and inevitably surrender.
As the debate raged on, a familiar voice suddenly rang out: "What are you standing around for? Fire off all the shells, and then see how many are left alive."
Hearing that voice, the generals shuddered. Turning around, they saw a white-robed cultivator standing in the tent—it was Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan waved his hand. "This is merely an avatar of mine; my true body is still keeping the Liao immortals at bay. Wrap up the battle here as quickly as possible, then proceed to this location. Erect your military qi, form a defensive array, and await further orders."
An older, experienced general asked, "Dare I ask what proof the Realm Lord has to show you are indeed the Realm Lord?"
Wei Yuan nodded. "Thorough and cautious—well done." Raising his hand with a gentle wave, streams of Buddhist power descended from the air to bestow blessings upon the generals. The merit and karmic luck already residing within them were fully activated, causing radiance to swell around each man and loosening the bottlenecks in their cultivation.
These generals all held official appointments in the Daoist Court. They immediately dropped to their knees and chorused, "Greetings, Realm Lord!"
"No need for formalities. Resolving the Liao forces takes priority. Subsequent shipments of shells have already been transported into the prairie, so there is no need to hoard them. Spend every last shell."
After Wei Yuan's avatar departed, the generals began working out their bombardment strategy. Half an hour later, ten thousand cannons roared in unison. Artillery fire blanketed most of the encircled area, leaving only a single pocket where no shells fell. The Liao soldiers instinctively crowded into this zone—whereupon a dense barrage of shells rained down, wiping out all six hundred thousand Liao cavalry.
Deep within Shuangya's snow domain barrier lay a deep-crimson orb. The bead was no larger than a grain of rice, yet Ji Liuli and Xiaoyu were seated inside it; in their perception, it was an expanse dozens of zhang high.
The two sat facing each other, exerting all their strength to manipulate their mindscape worlds and contend against Shuangya.
Star Lord Shaoyang suddenly materialized within the space, more than half his body encrusted in frost and ice. Wherever the frost clung, his form was rapidly turning translucent; only after returning to this space, bathed in the omnipresent deep-crimson light, did the ice slowly recede.
Stumbling before barely finding his footing, Star Lord Shaoyang sighed, "Those strange beasts of the snow kingdom are indeed hard to kill. The true spirits of the three outside must all be focused on beast-taming spirit manifestation, and this is the Liao domain, which enhances them even further. Slaying five of them this time was enough to exhaust my strength."
He sat cross-legged, preparing to restore his dharmic power before going out to fight again, when the Yangming True Fire surging into his body suddenly halted.
Ji Liuli opened her eyes and said to Xiaoyu, "Manifest the shadow of the great sun once more. I will support you."
"Understood." Xiaoyu promptly mobilized the entirety of his Dao power, and an orb like a brilliant sun surfaced between his brows. At the same time, out in the glacial kingdom, dozens of glazed crimson flecks suddenly converged, and a great sun rose majestically!
In an instant, ice and snow melted across several li, snow peaks collapsed, and the domain of snow was almost smashed through by this blazing sun!
Such devastating might shook Shuangya and Yinya to their core, and even Xiaoyu was thoroughly surprised. Ever since being trapped here, he had continually dispatched Star Lord Shaoyang to hunt and slaughter the snow beasts to drain the enemy's Dao power. All along, Star Lord Shaoyang had been Xiaoyu's strongest asset; upon stepping into Scenery Command, he could even bypass the step of nurturing a true spirit, giving him a direct path to perfection.
Shock aside, a faint realization dawned on Xiaoyu, and he furrowed his brows in silence.
Just then, that familiar voice sounded once more: "The key to your Scenery Command has long been before your eyes. Can you still not fathom it?"
The moment he heard that voice, Xiaoyu inwardly cursed! Sure enough, a figure in fluttering white robes appeared before him. In this deep-crimson expanse, that white robe was strikingly conspicuous.
Gritting his teeth and fighting down the visceral irritation spreading through him, Xiaoyu forced himself to ask, "Fathom what?"
Wei Yuan let out a soft sigh, yet it resonated with the Great Dao within this tiny realm. Innumerable flames surged and leaped from the deep crimson, yet not a wisp of fire could reach his pristine white robes.
Xiaoyu realized at once: only because Wei Yuan had utterly suppressed the Heavenly Dao of this minor world could he carry such an otherworldly, untouchable air. The Wei Yuan before him was so close to self-contained perfection that he remained completely unsoiled by mortal dust, his single word capable of setting the Great Dao trembling.
Having sighed, Wei Yuan asked, "Think carefully: where is Eldest Senior Sister's Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda from back then right now?"
*How the hell should I know where it is?!* Xiaoyu wanted nothing more than to cleave this giant white fly before him in two with a single sword strike.
Chapter 1384